Autumn 2015 Episode Rankings – Week 1

So here it is, the dreaded Autumn season… not quite as bad as I feared (at this point), but not amazing either. All quite mediocre – there’s not a lot separating #4 from #16 and everything in-between. Still, hopefully some of them will start to shine in the weeks to come. 🙂 Here’s what I’ll be following until the end of the year, focusing on the all-new shows as is traditional in my Week 1 posts:

There’s something weird about seeing a realistic skull next to an anime person… are they really the same species?

The first series to air this season was Lance N’ Masques, and it may well have benefited from being first. Despite almost sending me to sleep, suffering from weird pacing, low-budget animation and unfunny comedy, something made me want to give Lance N’ Masques a chance to prove itself. The positives? Fantasy-ish setting, goofy male lead who comes out with painfully cheesy lines, maids, horse-girl, young hero-loving moe-blob who doesn’t seem likely to end up being used for weird fanservice.

Comet Lucifer was the first all-new series whose first episode I actually enjoyed watching… so why is it in the red? Sudden magical girlfriend. It’s an anime trope that used to be used so often in the 2000s, but it’s been so long since I last saw it that it almost felt refreshing and new here – certainly better than all the magical school battle harem shows on offer this season! But old generic is still generic – whether or not Comet Lucifer will prove to be anything beyond that remains to be seen. Animation wasn’t bad, and I do like the setting and character designs. 🙂

Ha ha, you only came 15th!

Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou was certainly neither generic nor boring, just very confusing. There were multiple flashbacks and flashfowards throughout the first episode, with no transition effects to let us know they were happening – suddenly we’d just be in a whole new location, with the same characters looking and interacting with each other differently than before. Hopefully that’ll stop eventually, or I get used to it, one or the other. Apart from that, a stylish superhero action show with an amusing lead character can only be a good thing!

Finally out of the red, we have Subete ga F ni Naru. Not the most exciting first episode, I’ll be honest – largely character introduction, along with a lot of philosophical and psychological discussion. Still, it did a good job of establishing the relationship between Moe and professor Saikawa, leaving me more interested in them than a lot of the other characters I’ve been introduced to this week… helps that their character designs are by Asano Inio as well, a manga-ka I’m a big fan of! Apparently this is a murder mystery series, so I doubt it’ll remain this slow for long!

Those smug, satisfied looks as they kill off the would-be love interest. 😮

I’ve decided to include Osomatsu-san, since although it is a reboot of an old franchise, it’s all new to me. 😛 That, and the first episode stood out somewhat. It began in black and white, with the Matsuno sextruplets pondering how to make their show more appealing to modern anime fans… cue full-blown UtaPri parody complete with singing, dancing and colour-coded hair! The episode went on to parody everything from Attack on Titan to Yowamushi Pedal, in spectacular style. But, none of what we saw in this episode gives us any idea what to expect from the rest of the series, since the brothers promised not to do it again. Guess we’ll find out what we can really expect from a modern reboot of this old classic next week!

I was not expecting Dance with Devils to feature in my Top 5, not in a million seasons. A reverse harem show with love interests who are demons sounded as generic as the dreaded battle harems. But, that first episode. The singing. This anime is a musical! The cast just spontaneously burst into song on two different occasions, and it was fantastic. 😀 On top of that, the female lead seems really likable, and there’s an actual plot involving demon worship and her mother being abducted. All nicely animated and directed – I’m very impressed so far!

Yes… certainly Top 5 material…

One Punch Man was the most hyped show of the Autumn, and I can see what the fuss is about. The animation was superb, second only to K, making for some epic action scenes; no real battles though, which is the whole point – main character Saitama is so strong, he defeats all evil-doers with a single punch. A gag that certainly kept me entertained for the duration of the episode… but a whole series? Could get old fast, unless there’s more to the show than that. Still, the trailer and OP suggest One Punch Man will have a large cast, so I look forward to seeing how they all interact!

Taking the #1 spot, along with the prize for the longest title, is Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru~ An immature but highly intelligent lady with an interest in bones, who can tell how and when a person was killed just from a quick glance at their remains, certainly makes for an interesting character! Though I’m glad her schoolboy sidekick is there to keep her under control! An all-round fantastic first episode… my only worry is that it reminded me of last season’s Ranpo Kitan, in that Sakurako just took one look at the evidence and solved the case. Absolutely fine for an introductory episode, but in future eps I’d like more mystery, and maybe a chance to play along and work out what happened (or who did it) for myself. 🙂

Screenshots don’t do One Punch Man any justice, it looks fantastic in motion.

Feel free to let me know what you’re watching, or whether you agree with my rankings/quick thoughts etc. in the comments. 🙂

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5 Responses to Autumn 2015 Episode Rankings – Week 1

I’m very much looking forward to watching Sakurako-san, which makes me happy to see that the first episode rates so highly in your opinion. This season seems to have quite a few fun shows; though, I’ve only managed to watch the new Utawarerumono so far. It doesn’t nearly have as strong a start as the original, but I love the setting and the characters are likable.

Sakurako-san got off to a good start – I just hope it doesn’t turn into a ‘corpse of the week’ show. Aside from the fact that multiple episode arcs would allow for more complex stories and mysteries, seeing the find too many bodies would harm my suspension of disbelief. 😛

The new Utawarerumono is certainly taking things slower than the first anime series, which if I remember correctly saw Hakuoro getting involved with politics and battles almost immediately. I’m preferring the character interactions though, Haku and Kuon are great fun.